The New Crisis
by iLike80sRock
Summary: When what started as a simple burst of interference turns into a dangerous blast from the past, the Digi-Destined must band together once again and bring along a couple of new friends to have a chance at saving the Digital World. However, there is more to this foe than meets the eye...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi. I'm iLike80sRock and I'll be your author for today.  
I just have a couple things to clear up.  
1. I'm sorry for any canon errors. It's not meant to be canon past the MaloMyotismon fight anyways.  
2. It's a little OOC, but that is intentional and will be explained eventually.  
Now that we're done with that, I'd like you to enjoy!**

* * *

**Kari**

It's been four years since the Digidestined has been together in one place.

Tai and Matt have an apartment together a couple blocks from our parents' apartment. Tai went to school to be a physical education teacher, so he could "share his love of sports", and Matt is still doing the starving artist thing.

Sora is rising in the professional tennis ranks, and she lives in a big fancy penthouse. Tai and Matt regularly have fights over her, but at the moment she's dating Tai.

Izzy is in his 7th year of college, having switched majors a semester before graduation, because he found one of his electives "extremely stimulating in an interesting way." He's been trying to develop ways to make travel to the digital world easier.

Mimi made it big on a modeling gig and got into acting. She's currently making some movie about vampires that sparkle or something.

Joe finally finished med-school and is now officially the doctor he's always wanted to be. He's practicing in a hospital near the center of Tokyo.

T.K. is... well, he's trying to be an author. He has tried writing all kinds of fiction, and refuses to write a memoir, even though it probably would sell ridiculously well. He's done some things that are less than agreeable, and he quickly became a hermit that no one can or wants to talk to.

Davis is a "high level" pizza delivery man. He's saving up money to start his noodle stand that he so desperately wanted to run.

Ken runs a game development company out of his home in Tokyo. His parents were in a car accident that left them physically disabled, so he takes care of them as well.

Yolei is done with college, having gone to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as Izzy did. She's just got licensing tests to take then she'll to be qualified to work in governmental-level network setup and maintenance.

Cody is in law school, with some of the highest grades in his class. He finally got taller, which surprised all of us. He's still just as polite and proper as he always was.

We've separated mostly because of the lack of our digimon. We sent them back to the digital world so they could watch over it and protect it. Unless something really bad happens, we can go about our lives as normal. Last I heard, even Willis's digimon went back to the digital world. Tai and Matt still have Koromon and Tsunomon in our world, though.

I have a feeling that the relative peace we've been experiencing won't last much longer, and we'll band together once again. I hope so.

* * *

I closed my journal and put it back underneath my mattress. My mind kept going, thinking about my old friends.

_Mimi __couldn__'__t __come __to __the __digital __world __even __if __she __wanted __to__. __Not __without __coming __to __one __of __us __with __a __D__-3. __Cody __and __Joe __are __so __busy __that __they __probably __couldn__'__t __spare __the __time __anyways__._

I closed my eyes and leaned against the nearest wall.

_Who __am __I __kidding__? __It__'__s __me __that __doesn__'__t __have __time __for __them__. __They __probably __meet __every __chance __they __get__. __I__'__m __the __one __avoiding __them__. __And __it__'__s __all__..._

I was brought back to reality by the front door of my apartment opening. My heart started racing.

"Kari?" I instantly calmed down when I realised it was just Max. "Kari, are you here?"

I stepped out of my bedroom to almost literally run into him. "Oh! Hi." I squeaked.

He looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "Did you just get out of bed? It's almost five at night."

"I worked until four then didn't get to sleep till almost seven. Don't talk to me about sleeping late." I rolled my eyes. "So, what are you doing today... er, tonight?"

"I was thinking about getting a movie. We haven't seen that new one your friend was in yet." He put his hands in his pockets. "That's only if you want to, of course."

"That'd be fine. First things first, though. I need some coffee." He crinkled his nose.

"Well, I'll go grab that while you're making your nasty death-beverage." He started to walk towards the door, his face having a look of disgust on it. I just stuck my tongue out at him as he exited the apartment.

I got the coffee started without even thinking. While I waited, I picked up the phone, dialing my mother's number.

Three rings later I heard Tai's voice. "Kamiya residence. Hello?"

"Tai, what are you doing home?" I asked before I thought about it.

"Kari, is that you?" His voice cracked just like it always did. "Are you alright?

"Yeah. I needed to talk to someone from home. I feel so cut off here." I sighed. It was true. Other than the few times a year when Mimi was home, I didn't get to see anyone from my past.

"Do you want me to come visit? I can take a couple days off and fly there. I bet Sora would come too, since it's the offseason."

"No, that's not necessary. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I'm sure you miss us as much as we miss you." His voice got really quiet.

"I'm fine with you coming, just don't do it out of some sense of obligation. I would love to see you guys."

"I'll talk to Sora about it. So, why did you call? Just needed to talk?"

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to Mom. Is she there?"

"No, her and dad went to visit Grandma overnight. I'm just here feeding Miko."

"Alright. Can you give me Sora's number? And yours? I don't have anyone's except T.K.'s, and I really don't want to talk to him."

He hesitated upon hearing TK's name, but eventually responded. "Sure. We just got a new one because some girl was stalking Matt. She called at 4 AM last week asking for 'her sweet Yamato'. I got it changed the next day."

He read off the numbers, with me scribbling them on the notepad I kept by the phone.

"Listen, I need to go. I'm supposed to be meeting Sora for dinner in a few minutes. Promise you'll call me?"

"I promise, Tai. Oh, can you leave a note for Mom that I called?"

"Sure, Kari. I have to go. Call me sometime. Love you."

"Love you too, big brother. Tell everyone I said hi." I heard the phone click and I hung up. I chuckled, wondering how much that call would have costed if I didn't have free calling to Japan. I smiled and drank a bit of my coffee, leaning against the counter.

The door opened, startling me. I almost dropped my coffee, jumping to see Max standing in the doorway with a DVD case in his hand.

"Are you alright?"

I sighed. "Yeah, you just startled me. I'm fine." I smiled. "Better than fine, actually. I just got to talk to my big brother."

He put down the DVD and came around the counter, wrapping his arm around me. I took a large drink of my coffee while he made a face.

"We should take a trip over sometime. I've wanted to go to Japan ever since I took Japanese in college." He chuckled. "That is if you think we've been together long enough for me to meet your parents..." He trailed off.

I smiled at him. "Of course we have. It's almost been a year now." I pulled away to put my now-empty mug away.

_Not __like __you __ever __let __him __know __you__, __Kari__. _My thoughts nagged me. I brushed it off, not wanting Max to worry about me.

"Let's put that movie in!" I suggested. Max agreed with me, and I made some popcorn while he set up the tv. My mind was racing. _You __need __to __tell __him __about __your __past__. _I ignored it, putting the popcorn into bowls.

"I'm ready when you are, dear." Max said from the couch. I grabbed a couple sodas from the fridge and walked over to the couch, delivering everything like I would drinks at work. I got curled up to Max and he hit play.

"What is this movie about anyways? I just know it has Mimi in it." I said.

"It's some re-hash of a fairy tale that adds all kinds of action. Standard Hollywood 'Let's use an old story and change it a little! That'll wow the audiences!'." He shuddered. "Did you see the movie with the blue people and the helicopters and stuff?"

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty good." I raised my eyebrow.

"It's a remake of Pocahontas. Just with some high tech stuff and furries."

"Really? Oh, the previews are over."

* * *

"This movie is really making no sense. When did Snow White get an army? I don't remember that in any version of this story."

"Just watch the movie, Max."

* * *

The movie ended and like always, Max was asleep and squeezing me like a teddy bear. It was only nine and despite waking up at four, I was tired, so I just moved in closer to Max and allowed myself to drift off to sleep.

* * *

I was awoken by something in Max's pocket beeping. He stirred a few minutes later after his phone started buzzing in his pocket.

"Go away..." he muttered.

"Max, wake up." I said. He whined gibberish for a minute before his eyes flicked open. He blinked several times before smiling.

"Hi." He said while grinning goofily. "What time is it?" He asked while he stretched.

Light was coming in the window, so I knew it was early. "I think it's around seven or eight in the morning."

"Oh, wow. We slept all night? I don't even remember the movie ending."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you ever remember the endings of movies?"

He grinned again. "I remember the end of movies most of the time, thank you very much." He crossed his arms and pouted.

I giggled. "I don't see how. You go into hibernation after the first hour."

Before he could respond, something in his pocket beeped again. For some reason, the beeping sounded familiar, but that may have just been because he never changes the sounds on his electronics. He pulled out a flip messager that was basically the updated version of the D-Terminal.

_Speaking __of__, __you __haven__'__t __told __him __about __any __of __that__... _That annoying little voice came back.

"Oh, great. I've gotta go to work." He rolled his eyes before getting up. "I was supposed to have today off."

"Why did you get called?" I asked him. He just shrugged.

He grabbed his jacket he always wears and gathered his things. "I'm sorry to rush out, babe." He kissed me lightly before leaving.

I laid back down on the couch. There was no reason that I couldn't try to go back to sleep.

_Why __does __Max __always __run __out __like __that__? __I __think _he _might __be __hiding __something __from __you __just __like __you __are __from __him__._

"I don't think so." I answered out loud. "Anyways, I'm not hiding anything from him."

_Then why __have __you __never __mentioned __what __happened __with __you __and__..._

"Stop. I told you that Max would just worry and be super overprotective if we ever meet him."

_Whatever__. __I __just __hope __he__'__s __okay __when __he __finds __out __you__'__ve __had __this __whole __other __life __that __you__'__ve __never __bothered __to __tell __him __about__._

"Shut up, you stupid little voice!" I shouted. I got up and went into my bedroom, opening the top drawer of my dresser. I dug out my D-3 and D-Terminal and put them on top. "I'll tell him tomorrow. Will that shut you up, Voice?"

_Kari__, __that__'__s __not __very __nice__. __I__'__m __only __looking __out __for __you__._

I laid down in bed, not having to be at work until eight that night. "I know, Voice. I know."

_Thank __you__. _

"You're welcome." I mumbled as I fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Max**

I stumbled into my apartment, quickly making my way to my computer. I put on my headset and joined the voice channel that Willis told me to, saying that it was "important".

"Willis, are you here?"

I heard him pick up his headset. "_Max__, __I__'__m __glad __you __could __make __it__. __Watch __this__._" He used remote access to put a single file on my desktop. He clicked it before I could read the name, inputting some random values. "_Max__, __you__'__re __about __to __witness __something __awesome_."

A familiar screen popped up and I could see into a meadow.

"What am I looking at?" I asked.

"_That__, __my __friend__, __is __the __digital __world__."_

I stared at my computer screen with my eyebrow raised.

"Willis, are you kidding me? How is this 'awesome'?"

"_Yolei__'__s __digivice __isn__'__t __plugged __in__." _

It took a second before that sunk in. "Are you saying that we can open a portal whenever we want?

"_That__'__s __right__. __Izzy __finally __figured __out __how __to __open __a __Digi__-__Port __without __a __D__-3. '__Bout __time__, __too__. __I __haven__'__t __seen __Terriermon __and __Lopmon __since __Yolei __graduated__._" His voice crackled over my headset. It was silent for a moment, then Willis spoke again. "_Wanna __go __right __now__?_"

I laughed. "What? Right now?"

"_Izzy __asked __me __to __check __out __a __certain __sector__. __Wanna __go __with __me__?_"

"Sure, why not?"

"_Hold __out __your __digivice__. __The __uplink __should __pull __you __right __through__. __Remember __to __take __off __your __headset__, __or __it__'__ll __rip __the __wire __out__. __I__'__ll __meet __you __there__." _I grinned, giddy from the chance to finally go back to the digital world. I grabbed my digivice from my inside jacket pocket and held it up to the screen. Within seconds I felt myself being pulled from my seat and felt like I was falling. Wind rushed through my hair for a few seconds then I was suddenly just standing in a field beside a TV.

I looked around, seeing some woods nearby. "Willis?" I was no answer from him, so I decided to keep looking. A little more than five minutes later, I heard a female voice from my right.

"How have you been, Max?" I turned to see my digimon partner, Renamon. She lazily walked up to me, a smirk on her face. "It's been a while since you've been here. I thought you forgot about me."

"Not at all, Renamon. I just didn't have a way to get into the digital world without Yolei. Her digivice is the only one that can open the portal, but Izzy found a workaround so we can come whenever we want or need to."

She chuckled, saying, "Great, I'll never get rid of you now." I rolled my eyes at her.

I suddenly remembered why I was even there. "Hey, Renamon, have you seen Willis?"

"No. Is he here too?"

"I don't kn-" I was cut off by Willis flying out of the portal and knocking me down.

He quickly stood up, muttered a "Sorry," and started looking around.

I coughed a couple times since he knocked the wind out of me, then asked him, "What took you so long? I've been here for almost ten minutes now."

"I was downloading some stuff, it must have slowed my connection. The good news is that I should have around 50 movies waiting for me when I get home."

I was suddenly aware of my palm on my forehead.

"Anyways, Izzy said something was causing some interference in this sector. He said it would be east of where we uplinked. Terriermon and Lopmon should be getting here any moment now, then we can go check it out."

I groaned. "I _haaaaaate _waiting." Renamon chuckled and Willis sent a glare my way.

"Deal with it. Just because your digimon was already here... wait, why were you already here?"

She smirked. "I live in the woods here when Max is gone. It's nice and quiet and there's a glade where the view of the moon is just perfect."

Willis leaned towards me. "Sorry I asked..." He muttered.

Renamon glared at him and he stared back with wide eyes. They stayed that way for a few minutes before Renamon looked over my shoulder. "They're almost here. We can go ahead and start moving, they'll catch up. Terriermon can hear as well as I can."

"He'd better with those ears of his." As soon as I finished my sentence I got hit in the back of the head by Willis.

"Hey, you'd better watch it. I don't make fun of your digimon all the time." He crossed his arms.

"Actually, you do." I said, and Renamon nodded.

He looked between the two of us and simply muttered "Whatever," before walking off in the direction his digimon were coming from.

"Man, he's so easy to mess with. I'd hate to see him actually get mad." Renamon nodded in agreement. We stayed silent for a moment before we heard Terriermon and Lopmon giggling like mad.

"You guys are silly. I probably look ridiculous with the two of you sitting like that." Willis's voice came through. They got a little closer and I could see Lopmon and Terriermon standing on Willis's shoulders. They both had their ears puffed up and were swaying every time Willis took a step. Both of them started crying out, "Hi, Max! Hi, Renamon!" as soon as they could see us.

Willis finally reached us, and the twins floated down to the ground. He pulled out his digivice and D-Terminal and started getting his bearings. "We'll need to head over to that cliff, scale it and what we're looking for should be right over the top. There are pathways that will make it a lot easier to walk."

"You're kidding, Willis. There is no way that we're doing all that. That's like 5 miles just to the cliff, then we have to hike? Have fun."

He gave me a look that plainly said, _"__Are __you __kidding __me__?" _and kept going on. "There's a cave up right at the top that we'll be able to stop in if we need to overnight."

"Overnight? You didn't tell me that this was going to be an overnight trip. I have a job, you know. Gotta get that paper and such." I looked at my watch. "It's already noon. If we're going to do this, we need to get going."

I then had a brilliant idea. "Hey, Renamon, maybe you should digivolve. It'd make this trip a lot easier if we had a ride, and I know it won't wear you out to run a little as Kyubimon." She raised one eyebrow higher and higher as I spoke. "Pleaaase?" I blinked and grinned at her. We stood there in a non-verbal standoff for a few moments before she sighed.

"Fine." She muttered, narrowing her eyes as I readied my digivice. I held it out to her and it immediately started glowing.

"**Renamon ****digivolve ****to****...**"

I closed my eyes, waiting for the normal flash of light. A moment later, I opened my eyes to see Renamon standing in front of me, looking at her hands with wide eyes.

"Why can't I digivolve?" Her voice was smaller than normal and it lacked its usual sarcastic tone. She looked up at me and asked, "Is your digivice working?"

I inspected it. "Seems fine. What's going on?"

Willis looked at his. "Let me see if it's something wrong with you guys. Terriermon, you ready?"

"Yep. Let's do this." Willis's digivice glowed in his hand.

"**Terriermon ****digivolve ****to****...**"

He did a flourish before yelling, "Gargomon!" He looked at each of us, then looked down. "Darn."

"Okay, something is going on." I looked towards the cliff. "Whatever's causing Izzy's interference must be causing it."

Terriermon sat on the ground while Willis started on a tirade. "This is great. No digivolving. We're sitting ducks if something attacks us. In fact, why don't we just lie down in front of a train? I'm sure that..." Renamon and I looked at each other, and sighed simultaneously. He continued on for a few minutes before saying, "I say we go home until we can have reinforcements."

"Are you kidding? When's the next time we'll be able to get anyone else in? Let's just do this thing then go home." Renamon nodded in agreement with me.

He sighed in defeat. "Fine." He looked at the cliff. "We might as well get going, then."

I grinned. "Best idea you've had all day."

* * *

A few hours later, we'd made it to the cliff and scaled a good portion of it.

"Good thing Renamon spotted that shortcut. That cut off almost an hour. We'll be up here in no time." I said, trying to stay positive. "Wish it wasn't so hot though."

"Max, you can complain about anything, can't you? First, it was the long walk. Then it was how steep this path was, and now it's the heat. Next you'll complain about something dumb. Like being outside, or something."

I laughed. "I do hate it outside." I turned around to see his eye twitching. "C'mon, Willis. I'm just messing with you. After all, what's the point if we aren't at least somewhat enjoying ourselves?"

He stayed silent.

I looked around, noticing my surroundings. We were a good five hundred feet in the air, and I could see that the cave that Willis had mentioned earlier was not more than a few minutes away. "Wiiiillis," I sang, "I see the cave. That means we're almost at the top, right?"

He looked up. "Yeah, it's only about a hundred yards past that, then it should be an incline downwards at the top."

"Well, let's go in the cave when we get there. It'll probably be a good place to cool down."

Terriermon piped up. "I like that idea. I'm tired of walking."

Lopmon chimed in as well. "And I'm tired of being Willis's hat."

"Well, there's no point in making this take any longer. Race ya!" I started sprinting, and I could hear Willis pick up the pace behind me as well. Renamon just took long strides, easily outpacing all of us, and she was waiting in the entrance when we all arrived, completely out of breath.

"Are you all that out of shape?" She smirked. "You shouldn't be issuing challenges you know you can't back up."

"I. Was. Talking. To. Willis." I wheezed. "You're. Too. Fast."

She chuckled, which turned into a full out laugh when Willis started coughing. "You boys need to exercise."

When we all had gotten over running, we started going into the cave. To my surprise, it was lit. There were torches all along the walls that lit as we walked in farther. I could hear water running, which got louder and louder, and it got cold as we walked.

"Man, maybe today was a bad day for shorts." Willis said. I looked back and he was hugging himself.

"Willis, it's not that cold." I rolled my eyes.

"You're wearing pants and a suit jacket! Of course it's not that cold to you. It feels like there's a Fridgimon in here to me."

We walked a short distance more before hitting a dead end. There was a lake with a rock in the center, and the rock had a lever on it.

"This place gets weirder and weirder." Willis shook his head. "Why can't anything make sense?!"

I rolled my eyes. "You sound like that Joe kid Izzy introduced us to last time. Can you calm down for five minutes?"

"Do you enjoy pissing me off-ff-ff-ff-ffuck it's cold."

"Renamon, think you can pull that lever? Maybe it'll make Willis warmer."

"Of course." She jumped up and kicked off of the wall to propel herself through the air. She landed gracefully on the platform and gave the lever a tug. "It's stuck." She started pulling on it harder. "It. Won't. Move!" She grunted in between tries. She gave up and leaned against it, which made it move right away.  
"You must have loosened it." I chuckled, seeing her puzzled expression. She pushed the level the last bit and an opening on the far wall appeared. At the same time, stepping stones came out of the water on the opposite side of the cave. "How is that supposed to help?"

"Hey, there's another lever here," Terriermon said as he jumped on top of it, trying to get it to move. Lopmon attempted to help, but it did nothing. Willis grabbed it and pushed it over, and two more stones came up on our side.

"Well, let's go." Willis jumped to the first rock only to have it tilt and almost dump him in the water. He scrambled to get to the center, then turned around very slowly. "I'd be careful if I were you." He turned back and jumped to the next rock. Renamon leapt from the center to the middle rock on the other side, then kicked off before it had time to tilt, landing in the opening. Terriermon and Lopmon jumped to the edges of the rocks at the same time, balancing each other.

Eventually, everyone except me had crossed.

Willis yelled across. "You gonna come or not?"

I looked at the water then back to him. "Now would probably be a bad time to mention that I can't swim."

Renamon facepalmed, Willis crossed his arms and the twins started giggling. I sighed, then clenched my teeth, backing up. "Well, here goes nothing. Renamon, you'd better come fish me out if I fall." I took a deep breath and started running. I jumped to the first rock and to the second rock fine, but landed badly on the middle. Luckily, I landed on the rock, face down. I heard the twins giggle again and Willis sigh, but the only thing going through my mind was, "_Ow__,_". I pushed myself back up and got ready again, running across the large rock. I managed the first two jumps fine, but landed offcenter on the third. It started to tilt backwards and dump me off, but I saw Renamon put her paw out to me. I gave one last kick and grabbed it, and she pulled me over the rock and flung me into the entrance.

Willis walked over to me, looked down, then started walking up some stairs in the passageway while laughing. Terriermon got up on my chest and commented, "If there were pins here, that would have been a strike," laughing as he walked off. Lopmon just giggled as he passed, and Renamon stood over me, holding out her paw.

"Get up, Max. We need to go." She said calmly, motioning for me to grab her paw again. I took it, and she hauled me up.

"Oh, man, that's going to hurt in the morning. Actually, it hurts now. Oww." I twisted and loud cracking noises came from my back. "Ow. Ow. OW. Oh. Ahh. That's nice." I said as my back popped and loosened up.

She had her eyebrow raised. "Are you finished?" I nodded. "Let's go. The others are already gone."

We walked up the stairs. They spiraled upwards what felt like about two floors before letting us out in a much smaller and warmer cave. Willis and his digimon were inspecting something on a rocky pedestal.

"What's that?" I asked, and he turned and shrugged.

"It looks almost like a digi-egg, but it's stuck to this pedestal." I walked over to it and looked at the army-green egg. It was long and skinny with a curved blade-like spike coming out of it at one end, and it had a symbol that was three diamonds pointing into the center on it.

"Should we take it with us? Izzy might know something about it."

"I would say yes, but it's stuck. I'll just take a picture of it with my D-Terminal." He started to rummage through his pockets in his shorts.

I walked over to it, clapped my hands together, and grabbed the egg. "No need. Watch and learn." I pulled up on it as hard as I could...

And flew backwards into the wall with it in my hands. A blinding light came from the pedestal.

"Max, are you alright?" Willis yelled.

"He seems to like walls today, doesn't he?" Terriermon jested.

Renamon was above me in an instant, helping me up for what felt like the hundredth time today. I steadied myself, before posing in what I considered a heroic fashion. "Toldja I could get it."

Willis facepalmed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Willis**

The ridiculously bright light was still shining from where Max had picked the egg up. He stopped standing in that ridiculous pose and said, "Woah. This thing has energy coming off it like crazy."

I took one last look at it. "I'm almost sure it's a Digi-Egg. I remember using one to armour-digivolve Terriermon back when Lopmon was infected with that virus."

Max looked at the egg for a moment, shrugged, then put the egg in his jacket pocket. "As cool and weird as this is, this isn't that important right now. We should probably start looking some more." He sighed. "If Izzy thinks there's something wrong in this sector, I'm sure he's right, even if it is just a Koromon with an upside down face like that one time."

I did a double take. "What?

"Nevermind, that's a story for some other time. We have a job to do. We'll figure out for sure about this egg later." I looked at the twins and they looked just as confused as I imagine I did. I shook it off and started moving.

We exited the cave, continuing our search. We only had to walk for a few minutes before we saw a large black tower with a building around it.

"Looks like that's our interference." I said. I could feel a strong field of energy coming from that tower, and I could see that the digimon were uncomfortable from it.

"Is that one of those Control thingies Davis told us about, Willis?" Terriermon asked.

"Definitely. You can feel the energy coming off it, can't you?" He nodded. "If I remember correctly, it's why you can't digivolve." I pulled out my D-Terminal to contact Izzy, but it wouldn't connect. "Looks like it cut off our communications too. We need to get out of here, like I said earlier."

"We scaled a cliff and went spelunking to get here. I'm not leaving yet." Max said, with determination in his eyes.

"Max, wait!" He stopped and turned around. "We can't go in there without some sort of protection. If there are any bad digimon inside, we won't be able to digivolve and fight back. I know we're supposed to do this but I really don't think we can right now."

"You stay here, then. We'll check it out then come back. Renamon is rather strong for a rookie, so we should be fine."

He ran down the hill, Renamon right behind him.

_You __can__'__t __let __him __go __alone__._ The voice in my head was right. "C'mon, guys." Terriermon and Lopmon floated behind me as I followed him.

"You're a crazy son of a bitch, you know that, Max?"

"I'm getting stuff done. I didn't just spend a couple hours hiking for fun."

"You're going to get us killed."

"If you believe that, then go wait on the hill. We'll handle it."

"I can't let you do that. Not alone, at least."

"Seriously. Go wait on the hill. Renamon and I are able to handle this."

"Don't be all heroic, Max. You and I both know that despite Renamon being strong for a rookie, _she__'__s __still __a __rookie__._ If something goes wrong, you'll be crushed."

"Willis, stop being a downer. We'll be fine." He shushed me, pointing to the building. "We're close. Be quiet." He whispered.

We crept inside the nearest door, and after a moment, Max and Renamon started walking ahead, not really caring about watching for any guards or anything.

"Shouldn't you be more careful?" I asked him as he walked along nonchalantly.

"Why?" He stopped and turned. "This place is deserted."

"Is it, though? I believe you just made a huge mistake." A voice came from above. Max deadpanned and looked up. I closed my eyes for a moment, then looked up as well. "I do hope you two have had fun sneaking into my facility. After all, that's the last thing you're going to do." He started to laugh and simply walked through a door on the walkway he was on.

Max looked at me with a puzzled look on his face. "Was that Yolei's boyfriend?" He asked me.

"Looked like him, didn't it?" I responded. "It looked younger than him, though."

Before we could say anymore, the door that we came in exploded. A Guardromon stepped through the hole, and I counted seven more behind it.

"Max. Running would be good."

"Words outta my mouth, buddy."

We started to head up long hallway, Renamon and Terriermon sending attacks back as we fled. Somehow, we managed to make it all the way to the end and turn the corner before we were hit, and started climbing stairs that laid just beyond the turn. Max made it to the top before I did and stopped dead. I caught up and saw why.

"You have got to be kidding me." It was a dead end. All there was was a strange engraving on the wall.

"Well, buddy. Looks like this is the end. We're done." He covered his eyes, and I could swear he was about to cry.

"Wait, Max. I have an idea." I reached in his jacket pocket and grabbed the egg. "Hold it out and say 'Digi-Armour Energise.'"

"What the hell would that do, Willis?"

Renamon chimed in. "Do it, Max."

"Fine." He grabbed it from me and held it out. "Digi-Armour Energise!"

The effect was instant.

"**Renamon ****armour****-****digivolve ****to****..."**

Renamon started to glow. She grew a couple feet, and a green top and pair of shorts appeared. A cape extended from her shoulders, and armorpads appeared all over her body. A white ponytail grew out of her head as a gray helmet covered the top of her head all the way down her snout. Black boots materialized and a poleaxe appeared in her hand.

"**Aranimon****! The Charitable Hero!**"

"Aranimon? That's not normal." He looked frightened.

I smirked. "Calm down."

"But... I thought they couldn't digivolve. Anyways, she digivolves to Kyubimon, not this. " Max said, obviously very confused.

She looked down at us. "Armour-digivolving isn't the same as normal digivolving." Max's mouth flopped open and closed like a fish until the Guardromon could be heard around the corner. "Let me handle this. Terriermon and Lopmon, you two should be ready to fight just in case." She went around the bend, and we could hear a clash of weapon-against-machine.

"Yeah, Terriermon. Digivolve!" I held out my digivice, which started glowing immediately. However, it didn't do anything. "Oh, right. The Spire. Shit."

Lopmon tugged on my pantleg. "Why do you never let me digivolve? She could use my help." He pouted at me.

"Lopmon, you know why." I knelt down. "You only just came back to me. I can't risk you going away again. Anyways, you can't digivolve here if I were to let you."

I could hear Aranimon's voice shout, "_Ancient __Smash__!_", followed by a metallic crash. Max ran towards the sound, and I saw Aranimon fly backwards into the wall, and the corner of the building came down from the hit. She reverted to Renamon as she was slumped against the wreckage.

"RENAMON!" He shouted as he made a beeline for her. He dodged attacks from the guards, picked her up and started running towards me, panic in his eyes.

I could hear her say, "I'm sorry, Max. There were too many for me."

"Willis, we need to get out of here! Start looking for an exit that way." Max looked behind him, only to see the Guardromons sending attacks in his direction. "STEP ON IT!"

I glanced around, not seeing anything except the dead end we had run into before. "Max, I don't think this is going to end well." I looked at the wall with the engraving. It almost resembled two teeter-totters forming an X. In the center of the X, the gold piece caught my eye. I could see what looked like a string attached to it, so I grabbed it and pulled. It moved a tiny amount, but it wouldn't come out.

"Willis, keep trying that thing. I have an idea!" Lopmon said to me as the Guardromon kept coming closer. He ran out towards the approaching digimon, and before I could stop him, my digivice went off.

"**Lopmon ****dark-****digivolve ****to****...**"

I turned around in horror.

"Dark digivolve?" Max asked. "What does that even mean?"

"Lopmon, NO!" I screamed as I saw the monster that haunted me for years materialize in front of my face.

"**Wendigomon****!**"

I lowered my head and started to explain. "Dark digivolving means that he digivolved into a form that is corrupted by a virus." I clenched my fists and blinked to stop the tears I knew were coming. "He's going to turn into that awful monster again and we're going to have to destroy him again. This time, he may never heal." The tears started flowing.

Max turned away and said, "Willis, I don't think he's evil. He's saving our butts."

I walked forward to watch. "You'll see when he comes after us."

He ran forward, smashing together the front two Guardromon and throwing them down the stairs. It knocked all but two over, and he took advantage of them being down. "_Koko __CRUSHER__!_" he shouted, blasting them with the cannons hidden under his fur. Three of the Guardromon exploded into bits of data, and two flew out the hole in the side of the building. The two that remained standing kept climbing the stairs, and the disabled ones got up and came back.

"_Club __Arm__!_" His arms extended and smashed through the two that had remained standing, exploding them into data. The final three kept climbing, and one managed to get a hit in on Wendigomon. They started juggling him, keeping him from retaliating. One landed a hit in his lower jaw and he flew back towards me, dedigivolving as he fell.

I caught him and held on to him despite the fact that he was wiggling around. "You're alright!" I cried in relief.

"Yeah, but not for long if we don't find some way out of here." He looked up at me. "Pull that thing out of the wall! It may be a key or something." I sat him down.

"I hope you're right."

I turned and pulled the string with all my might, the piece coming free little by little. The Guardromon got dangerously close, and I pulled harder with every step they took. It came loose, and I fell on my butt.

As soon as the gold piece was free, the wall glowed a bright green and started shrinking. It shrunk down to small enough to fit into the gold piece, and there was a tunnel behind the wall.

"Max, c'mon! We're getting out of here!" I shouted as I started to run down the tunnel, shoving the "key" in my pocket. I grabbed Terriermon and Lopmon so we could move faster and sprinted as fast as I could, Max on my heels. I paused, turning to see the wall that had disappeared reappear, blocking the Guardromon from following us any more.

"Max, you can put me down now." Renamon said in a weak voice. Max gently sat Renamon on her feet, where she wobbled for a second before becoming steady.

I turned to Max. "Do you see why _you __should __fucking __listen __to __me __once __in __a __while__?!_" He looked down at his feet and didn't answer. "You almost got us killed, you asshole! Not to mention the fact that Lopmon digivolved into that monster that he _just __now __got rid __of__!_ If you hadn't been so set on going in there, none of that would have happened!" I turned around, looking towards the exit. "People always ask me why I don't ask my friends for help on things. Well, no wonder, all my 'friends' are fucking dumbasses!" At the end of the tunnel, it was just a small opening out of a hillside. I climbed out of the hole to the fresh air.

"I'm sorry, Willis."

"I personally don't give a damn." I said as I walked away.

"Willis! Come on! We're okay, aren't we? We're all alive!" He started following me.

"Leave me alone, Max." I kept walking, Terriermon and Lopmon silently coming with me. Eventually, I heard Max and Renamon's footsteps die away.

After what felt like hours, Terriermon finally spoke. "Willis, do you think that maybe you were being too harsh on Max?"

"No, Terriermon. He rushed in there without a single care in the world. He didn't think about the fact that Renamon may get hurt. He didn't think that maybe we would lose. He just thought about his own damn curiosity. If I hadn't managed to get that wall to disappear, you two and Renamon would be eggs and Max and I would be dead."

"But he was just trying to do what Izzy told you to do. It wasn't his fault that it turned out badly." Lopmon tried. "It was our choice to go with him anyways. And it was my choice to digivolve."

I only had to think about it for a moment to know that they were right. I knelt down to the two of them. "Maybe you guys are right. He did tell us to stay outside, and you were just protecting us, Lopmon." I stood up, and suddenly I felt adrenaline kick in. I felt a wave of realization wash over me, and my mind filled with worry. "We've got to find him." Both of them looked up to me with skeptical looks.

"Why the sudden change of heart, Willis?" Terriermon asked.

"You know how he gets. He'll go back, like he has something to prove. He'll either get the job done or die trying." I put my head in my hands. "This is bad. This is really bad."

"Let's go, Willis. If you're right, he needs us." Terriermon said.

We started back in the direction we had come. The twins were on my shoulders and I was running as fast as I could without wearing myself out. As I ran, only one thought went through my head.

_I __just __hope __he __doesn__'__t __do __anything __stupid__._


	4. Chapter 4

**Max**

Renamon and I stood a few hundred yards from the facility. We hadn't spoken since we had left Willis alone.

"Are you okay, Max?" She asked me.

"No. Not really." I couldn't lie to her. "I just want to get this over with and get home. It's already almost dark." I started towards the building.

"Max, we can't do this alone. If there are anywhere near as many Guardromon as last time, we'll be crushed."

I narrowed my eyes, not stopping.

She sighed and caught up to me. "You'd better be prepared to lose." She said in a rough voice.

I smirked. "Don't worry. We'll be fine." I pulled out the egg. "Digi-Armour Energise!"

My digivice glowed like crazy, and the egg exploded into light.

"**Renamon ****armour****-****digivolve ****to****..."**

She transformed before my eyes from Renamon to the green clad warrior.

"**Aranimon****! The Charitable Hero****!"**

She followed a few steps behind me, and when I looked she was visibly worried.

"Max, this isn't a good idea." Her voice was shaking.

"We'll be fine." I said, but I didn't believe it. Willis and I were almost killed and I knew it. I just had to do this, or I wouldn't be able to live with myself for putting us in danger earlier.

We took a few more steps before four Guardromon stepped out of the building.

"Aranimon, we're out of their range. Put them down." I said, and she nodded.

"_Ancient __Smash__!_" she screamed, a bolt of yellow energy flying out of her poleaxe and blasting one of the Guardromon. They started moving towards us, and she let out another blast, downing another.

"_Frigid __Judgement__!" _She smashed her axe into the ground and shockwaves came up, sending both of the Guardromons into the air. When they came down, a gigantic version of her axe came out of the ground and destroyed both of them.

"That made some noise. Let's go." I said. We ran into the facility, more guards on both sides. I kept running, heading straight for that tower.

"Max, this is very quickly getting bad. We should worry about getting out of here." Aranimon said in a quiet voice.

"No! We're doing this." My voice cracked, showing my worry.

"Not like we have a choice now..." she muttered.

We kept running, the facility seeming like a maze. We finally made it to the center, but before Aranimon could smash the gigantic black tower, she was hit in the side of the face by an attack from a Guardromon.

"Aranimon! Are you alright?" I screamed, but she didn't answer. She dragged herself up and launched an attack at the robotic digimon, exploding it into a million pieces of data. She started spinning, shooting blasts at every entrance, every time hitting another Guardromon. Eventually, they came too fast and overwhelmed her, and she transformed back to Renamon.

She wasn't beaten, though. She backflipped out of the mob and during her hang time attacked. "_Diamond __Storm__!_" she shouted, pelting the machines with many pieces of rock.

There were stairs up around the room, and we started retreating up them. She blasted them at every opportunity, slowing but not stopping them.

"Renamon. I'm sorry. You were right." I said as we started to get close to the top.

"Thank you." She said before sending another attack.

One of the Guardromon attacked, but missed entirely. It only took me a moment to realize that they weren't aiming for us, but for the way up the rest of the stairs. We were cornered.

"Renamon, do you think Aranimon is ready to come back?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"Do it, Max." She narrowed her eyes before running at the mass of Guardromons.

"Digi-Armour Energise!" I shouted, holding the egg.

"**Renamon ****armour****-****digivolve ****to****..."**

She lunged, holding her hands as if she already had her axe. The digivolution happened as she was in midair.

"**Aranimon****!" **She shouted, slicing the nearest enemy in half as soon as her axe appeared. She immediately used Smash on the group, sending them rolling down the stairs like dominos. However, they just picked themselves back up and came back.

"Just keep them away while I try to figure out a way out of here, okay?"

"Got it, Max." She said, winding up for another Smash.

I looked around but saw no doors or anything. I looked down and frowned. _If __we __could __move __faster__, __we __could __just __run __like __hell__..._

A lightbulb turned on in my head.

"Aranimon, focus your attacks on the spire!" I shouted. "Once you feel it go offline, de-digivolve and digivolve into Kyubimon. Then we'll be fast enough to get out!"

She turned and nodded. She sent a Smash at the tower then at the Guardromon, alternating between the two for safety.

"It's not going offline, Max. I'm too tired." She gasped before turning back into Renamon and collapsing. I ran and grabbed her, putting myself in between her and the incoming digimon.

"Renamon, are you okay?" I asked her, tears welling up in my eyes. "I'm sorry I got us into this. I'll make sure they get me first. I promise."

She opened her eyes, groaning from exhaustion. "Max, I don't blame you at all. You're just trying too hard to do everything everyone asks of you." She closed her eyes, obviously spent.

I heard a Guardromon get right behind me. I could hear it winding up an attack and I closed my eyes. _I __wish __I __could __see __Kari __again_, I thought.

However, no attack came. I opened my eyes and looked up to see that the Guardromon were all looking straight up. I looked up and there was a flying horse above. It flapped its wings harder for a second, causing them to start glowing.

"_Star __Shower__!_" It yelled, raining explosive stars on the mob of digimon, causing the walkways they stood on to fall, making many of them explode into data from too much damage. I heard a crash from below and saw Wendigomon mowing through the mob at the bottom.

"Renamon, look!" She opened her eyes and smirked at the two fighters. She pulled herself up and watched. "We're saved!"

I looked straight down to watch Wendigomon smash a couple Guardromon into the tower. Instantly, I felt the energy from the Spire vanish. A bright light came from below and Gargomon was suddenly visible. He joined the fray immediately, and Guardromon started disappearing by the dozen.

Renamon turned to me. "Shall I get us down?" She asked, visibly recharged.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why are you feeling better all of a sudden?"

"The spire was sapping my energy. I feel much better now." She walked to the edge of the walkway. "Get that digivice out." She commanded me.

"Alright!" I said, holding it out.

"**Renamon ****digivolve ****to****..."**

"I'm still surprised you have enough energy to do that." I commented while she transformed.

"**Kyubimon****!" **She yelled. "Get on. I want to get down there before all the fun is gone." I laughed and climbed on her back. She jumped to a lower bit of walkway as soon as I was on, then leapt to another immediately after. We were down in no time, and I jumped off to let Kyubimon get in some battle in her champion form before the battle was over.

I ran over to Willis, surprised to see another person and a cat digimon with him. The other guy nodded at me, while Willis had his arms crossed with a smirk on his face. The cat just tilted her head at me.

"Why did I know you'd be in some sort of trouble?" Willis said in a strained voice. "You can't go ten minutes in this world without almost getting yourself killed, can you?"

I looked down. "No, sir."

He laughed. "Just don't run off like that again. We're called the digidestined for a reason. I seem to remember TK here or one of his friends telling me that years ago."

The cat spoke up. "I think it was Davis. He was going on about how he 'saved the day' by making you see that teamwork was the way to go." She shrugged. "Then again, Davis would talk about how great he was to a deaf kitten, so I'm not sure who actually said it."

TK laughed. "Gatomon, you know the twelve of us too well." As he talked, I noticed a lack of actual emotion in his voice. "Oh, it looks like Pegasusmon just took out the last one." As he spoke, the four digimon that had been fighting all shrank to their rookie forms. The twins jumped on Renamon's shoulders and Pegasusmon's rookie form landed on her head.

"You three are ridiculous." She muttered, walking them over to us.

TK smiled. "You four make a good team. There must have been three hundred Guardromon. It's a shame you had to destroy them, but they weren't under the control of the dark rings like last time." He frowned. "Willis, you said it was Ken that you saw?"

Willis shrugged. "I thought it was, but it looked like a middle schooler. It was like it was him from the past or something."

TK sighed. "Well, Patamon, Gatomon and I will go around looking for spires. I'll send coordinates to Izzy if I find any." Patamon climbed on his head. "Willis, I owe you one. If you need me, send me a message. The three of us will come running." He started to walk off, but Gatomon stayed behind. Instead, she came over to me, looking right up to me.

"Why do I smell Kari on you?" she asked quietly.

I felt my eyes go wide. "What?"

"Why do you smell like my Kari?" She asked again, just as quiet.

I leaned down. "Your Kari?" She nodded. "Wow." I said, surprised. "She's my girlfriend. We've been dating for almost a year." I felt my face screw up as I went into thought. "She's never told me anything about you though..."

She blinked.

I kept going. "I wonder why she never told me..."

TK shouted Gatomon's name. "Come on, we need to get moving! I know you're going to want to take a cat nap soon!" He yelled.

I grabbed her paws. "It's nice to meet you, Gatomon."

"You too, Max. Tell Kari I said hi." She smiled and ran off to TK.

I stood, walking over to Willis. I put my hand on his shoulder. "I'd say it's about time to go home, buddy."

"Yeah." He said. "You've gotten us in trouble twice today. I think that's enough for now." He stuck his tongue out as we started walking.

We walked in silence for a few minutes and my thoughts took over. _Why __has __Kari __never __talked __about __the __digital __world__? __Did __something __happen __that __made __her __want __to __forget __it__?_ I groaned, stewing in my own thoughts.

"What's wrong, Max?" Terriermon asked me. "Is it about what you and Gatomon were talking about?"

I deadpanned. "You could hear that, couldn't you?"

Renamon and the twins all said some form of "Yes," at the same time.

Willis elbowed me. "You have to tell me now. It's inhumane to leave one person out of the loop." He laughed. "If you don't tell, one of the twins will anyways." He had a smug look on his face.

I sighed. "You said you met several digidestined, right?" He nodded. "Did one of them happen to be Kari Kamiya?" He nodded again. "I've been dating her for almost a year and she's never even brought up anything about her friends or the fact that she's a digidestined. That means she knows the rest of the team, right?"

"Yep." He said. "She was one of the original eight, in fact."

My jaw dropped. "How much more about her do I not know? Do I even know the real her, or is the Kari I know some act?" I felt my eyes water up. "She's absolutely perfect, but if she's had this whole other life she hasn't told me about, can I trust her?"

Willis slapped me on my shoulder. "Talk to her about it. Just from meeting her the once and what Izzy has told me, I know that she'll hear you out no matter what."

"Maybe I don't want to know." I muttered. "C'mon, lets go home."

* * *

It was late when we came back through the portal. I brought Viximon back with me, not wanting to leave her behind this time. I got a large duffel bag and put her in it so we could go to Kari's without attracting any suspicion.

"Viximon, are you alright?" I asked her before I left.

"Other than being a little hungry, I'm fine." I nodded and pulled out my cell phone, dialing Kari's work.

After a few rings, her boss picked up. "Jumpers Bar and Nightclub, can I help you?" His gruff voice barked at me.

"Hi, I was just wondering if you could tell me what time Kari Kamiya gets off the clock. This is her boyfriend and I was going to pick her up from work tonight."

"Yeah, sure. Let me check the chart." I could hear him fiddling around with stuff on his desk for a minute. "Here it is. It says that she'll be getting off in about an hour at four. Is that all you needed?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you very much."

"No problem." He hung up.

I looked down at Viximon. "We have time to run and grab some food before Kari gets off work. Let's go."

She climbed in my duffel bag and we went.

* * *

By the time the cabbie ran us to a restaurant for take out and got us across the city, it was 4:10. I checked and she had already left for home. I went back and paid the cabbie, and started looking for Kari.

"Why was traffic so bad?" Viximon asked me as we walked down the deserted street. "There's no cars here."

"I don't know, Viximon. I can't believe we missed her." I said as I looked down an alley. "I try to do something nice or helpful and it always blows up in my face."

Viximon poked her head out of my bag. "Don't be so hard on yourself. People appreciate the fact that you work so hard to do things for them, even if it doesn't turn out exactly as you wanted it to."

I frowned. "I know that, it just really dents my ego when my great plans are trashed."

"I have an idea. I could digivolve and run along the rooftops. I would cover a lot more ground that way."

"No, Viximon. Let's just keep looking and if she's already there when we get there, it'll be fine." I said quietly.

I kept walking, becoming more and more uneasy with each step.

"Max, look over there! To our left! Is that her?" Viximon suddenly shouted. I looked over to see a girl with the right color hair. I crossed the street illegally to see, and before I even got all the way across, I could tell it was her. She was slumped against a wall and was definitely unconscious.

"Oh my god, what happened to her?!" I spat as I sprinted the last couple yards to her. I knelt down beside her and shook her a bit. She started to look up and my worry lessened the slightest bit.

_At __least __she__'__s __not __dead, _I thought._  
_

"Kari, what happened? Are you okay?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Kari**

I was lost in thought while I walked home from work.

_What __if __Max __freaks __out __because __I __left __out __such __a __big __part __of __my __life__? __What __if __he __says __he __never __wants __to __see __me __again__?_

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

_He__'__s __not __like __that__. __If __you __explain __you __had __a __good __reason __he__'__ll __be __sure __to __forgive __you__._

I was ripped out of my thoughts when I tripped over a bit of uneven sidewalk. I landed face down on the sidewalk, hurting my bad ankle. Still, I dragged myself up and started limping towards home.

I only took a few steps before I fell back to the ground. I heard a crack and my ankle was bathed in pain.

"Shit!" I screamed. I looked down at my feet and almost threw up. My ankle was twisted unnaturally and I knew for sure it was broken.

_Don__'__t __panic__. _I took a few deep breaths and made myself calm down slightly. _You__'__ll __be __fine__. _

Another wave of pain went through my body, and I dragged myself into a sitting position. I felt tears come to my eyes as pain assaulted me.

_Just __rest __for __a __minute__. __You__'__ve __walked __on __worse __than __this__. _

I leaned against the wall and pulled my legs in close. The pain blurred my vision and before I knew it, I started to black out.

* * *

"Kari, what happened? Are you okay?"

I slowly came to and looked up. Max was kneeling beside me, his eyes full of concern.

"Um. I wasn't paying attention and I tripped and hurt my ankle." The pain came back and I was unable to hold back a whimper. "Really bad." I squeaked as I felt it throb.

He touched my ankle, and for every second his hand was on it, it felt like it was being stabbed. "It looks broken for sure." He wrapped his arms around me and hauled me up. "Let's get you home. We can go get it looked at after you get a little rest." We started walking, me being held up by him so my ankle could rest.

"Why are you here?" I asked him.

"I was going to pick you up from work, but you'd already left. I decided to just walk to your apartment and I found you on the way."

"I'm glad you did." I said quietly.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, my head spinning from pain in my ankle. Before I knew it, we were in front of my apartment.

"I'll get it," He said as he grabbed for his keys. He unlocked the door and helped me to the couch, careful to get my ankle where it would be comfortable. He unzipped his bag and pulled out a hefty Chinese take-out bag. "I got all your favourites." He grinned, zipping into the kitchen for drinks.

He sat down in the chair across from me after handing me a soda and some ice for my leg. We ate for a few moments before he put down his food and stared at me. "I need to talk to you about something." He said, suddenly serious.

I sat up as much as I could with my ankle propped up. "What is it?" I said, uneasy from his uncharacteristic seriousness.

He looked down for a moment before looking over at where he sat down his bag. "I know you've been keeping secrets from me. I want you to tell me how many." He frowned.

I froze. "What do you mean? I haven't kept any secrets from you..." I trailed off at the end.

He looked me directly in the eye. "Gatomon."

My eyes widened. "What?!" I spluttered. "How do you know about her?"

He sighed and looked back over at his bag. "There are a couple things I haven't told you yet, either. You can come out now, Viximon."

A few seconds later, a little yellow furball jumped onto his lap. He scratched between its foxlike ears and it closed its eyes, a smile on its face.

I felt my jaw drop. "You have a digimon?!"

"Yes, I do. She's been my partner for eight years now." He smiled with a sad look in his eyes. "We were called to the digital world during my sophomore year of high school. My best friend and I both got partners, Renamon being mine and Coronamon being hers. We never found out why we actually were chosen, and we found our way home before the weekend was over. Rachael and I were pulled in again two years later, only to have a falling out. We haven't spoken since."

"After that, I came to be friends with Willis, and the next I met Yolei and Izzy at college and got to go back and see Renamon again. We would go take care of disturbances Izzy's scanners picked up in the digital world, but Izzy always gave me the easiest or most inane tasks. He doesn't actually trust me, since I'm not one of you or one of his close friend like Willis." He sighed. "I still go in when I can, helping Willis with the things Izzy wants him to do or doing dumb little things that Izzy thinks are important." He looked me in the eye. "That's the extent of my digital adventures up to before today. Your turn."

"What happened today?" I narrowed my eyes.

He looked away for a second. "Tell me yours first. I think it might fill in some holes with today."

I sighed and started my story. I told him everything from the very first fight with Greymon and Parrotmon to the digimon that only I could see on the television. I told him how Wizardmon gave his life for me. I told him about almost dying from sickness in Machinedramon's city. I went on for what seemed like hours before I had even finished talking about the Dark Masters.

"Then, after we defeated Piedmon, an even stronger digimon appeared and destroyed our crests. He tried to delete us, but we realized that our crests were just items. All of our digimon digivolved to the highest forms that we'd seen at that point and we crushed Apocalymon. We then said goodbye to the Digimon and went home." I laid back on the couch.

"Wow. You did all that?" He looked amazed.

I laughed quietly. "That's only the halfway point. We had to come back in three years because of Ken trying to take over while he was under control of MaloMyotismon. Eventually we took out him and everyone over him." That was the last time I saw Gatomon." I sat up.

He whistled. "Izzy never told me about anything that happened. He said that you saved the digital world twice but refused to tell me anything else." His voice became sad. "I'm the only one on the team that isn't really on the team. Willis is the only reason they even give me a chance."

"Izzy and Yolei are both very stubborn. I'm sure they'll lighten up eventually." I said, not really believing myself. Yolei was the most outgoing person I knew, and would accept someone new without hesitation.

"Yeah..." He trailed off. "So, you said Ken tried taking over? How did he do that?" He obviously changed the subject.

I sighed. "Yeah, he did. He had these towers and rings that stopped digimon from digivolving or put them under his control. We only were able to fight back by armour-digivolving, and eventually Davis found the Digi-Egg of Miracles which gave us the power to finally take him down for good. After that, we found out he wasn't entirely responsible for his actions and we forgave him."

He rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Today, Willis and I went in to look for the source of a whole lot of interference. We got to it and it was a big black tower that had nasty energy coming off it, and our digimon were unable to digivolve. We managed to destroy it but I don't think that was the only one. And someone that looked like Ken except younger was there, calling it his facility." He looked at me. "After almost getting Willis, myself, and our digimon killed, I went back in and would have died had TJ and Willis not showed up."

I blinked. "TJ?"

He nodded. "I think that was his name. His partner was a Patamon. Why, do you know him?"

I felt my breath catch in my throat. "Y-y-y-yeah," I stuttered, "I know him. His name is TK, though. It's short for Takeru. So, you said someone is using Spires again?" I frowned. "I know Ken isn't bad anymore, so who could it be?"

"I don't know. Willis and I are going in tonight to find TK and search for a few more. Now that we've taken one down, Willis and I know how to do it." He grimaced. "Of course, once Izzy hears about it he'll probably give me a dumb assignment so I don't go and screw things up, but that's the plan right now."

"I want to come with you." I blurted out.

He raised his eyebrow and laughed. "With your ankle like that?"

"It'll be fine. I have to go see Gatomon. She can armour-digivolve to Nefertimon and I can ride on her back."

"Okay..." He said with his eyebrow still raised. He yawned, then leaned back in his seat. "It's almost been twenty-four hours since I woke up. I think we should go to bed. We'll go get your ankle checked out before we decide if you can go into the digital world."

"Okay, I guess that's fair. I'm tired too. Work was brutal tonight." I stretched. "I had an hour that I served five hundred and ninety-seven drinks and I was the 'dead' bar tonight."

"Holy cow." He closed his eyes for a minute before shaking himself awake. "There's no way I'm going home. I'll collapse or fall asleep in a cab or something."

"Stay here. You know I don't mind."

"I shouldn't. You're hurt and you need to rest."

"I'll be fine. I'm not going to let you try to get home exhausted like that. I'll get up and stop you if I have to." I put a little force in my voice, which caused him to sigh in resignation.

"Fine." He got up and walked over to me and picked me up. He looked over his shoulder. "Viximon, sleep in here wherever you'll be comfortable." He continued into the bedroom, putting me down gently on my bed before scooting in beside me. "I'm really glad we finally got to talk about this." He said as we settled in.

"So am I, Max. I love you."

He squeezed me a little. "I love you too. Goodnight." He said as he turned off the lamp.

* * *

"_It__'__s __about __time__." The words came from a__shapeless __mass __directly __ahead __of __me.__ "__I __can__'__t __believe __it __took __that __long__."_

_I __stepped __towards __it__. "__Did __anything __bad __happen__? __No__. __You __were __wrong__."_

_It __started __to __morph __into __Angewomon__. "__I __wouldn__'__t __say __that __if __I __were __you__. It sends the message that you don't trust me anymore."_

"_You__. __Were__. __Wrong__." __I __yelled__._

_Her __mouth __formed __into __a __frown __and __she __started __to __turn black. After a few moments, it was apparent that she was turning into __LadyDevimon__. __As __the __parts __of __her __that __had __already __formed __into __Angewomon __changed__, __she __screamed __in __agony__, __and __I __felt it __just __as __she __did__. __I __fell __to __the __ground__, __pain __coursing __through __my __body __and __hers __simultaneously__. _

_She __finished __transforming__, __and __her __pain __seemed __to __dissipate__. __However__, __the __pain __continued to __intensify __for __me__, __and __LadyDevimon __stepped __over __to __me__._

"_Ah__, __silly __Kari__. __Your __trusting __nature __has __left __you__, __and __you __rely __only __on __yourself __now__. __You __were __never __one __who __would __willingly __be __alone__. __Why __are __you __like __that __now__?" __She __asked__. "__The __Kari __I __knew __is __dead__, __and __soon__, __you__'__ll __be __entirely __gone__." __She __grimaced __and __let __out __an __evil __cackle__. _"Darkness Spear!" _She __screamed __before __she __jabbed __the __spike __on __her __arm __straight __at __my __chest__._

I screamed as I sat up in my bed, painfully twisting my ankle as I thrashed about. Within seconds, Max was awake and had a hold of me, whispering in my ear. His calming voice let me relax and I laid back down.

"What time is it?" I asked when I had composed myself.

He reached over and grabbed one of his electronics. "It's three forty-seven. Do you want to go get your ankle checked out? You can get it wrapped up then we can go find Gatomon." He smiled at me.

I nodded, still shaken. I knew it was just a dream, but the pain had felt so real. I attempted to get up, but he stopped me.

"You're not walking on that ankle." I groaned. "I'm going to carry you down to the street and get us a cab."

"Max, I'm a grown woman. I can walk down stairs by myself."

"You're not going to. If you think I'm going to let you, you're pretty much wrong."

"Seriously, Max. You're not carrying me down there."

He gave me a look before getting up and walking around the bed. He hoisted me in the air before I could slide away and started out of the apartment.

"Max, put me down!" I shouted. "I can walk by myself!"

"Funny. No." He said stiffly before shutting the door behind us.

Two hours later, I hobbled out of the hospital with my ankle wrapped up and a boot on it. Max was beside me, helping me walk.

"Alright, we need to pick up Viximon then get back to my apartment. From there, we can enter the digital world." He said, sounding slightly upset.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I wonder if Willis will even need my help. He'd probably be better off without it."

"That's not true. No digidestined is better alone than with a team." I rubbed his shoulder. "Anyways, if he acts like that, we can just go off and have an adventure with just the two of us."

He smiled. "You're right. C'mon, lets get a cab."

* * *

We arrived at his apartment an hour and a half later, having to go back for my D-3 and D-Terminal that I had forgotten. Viximon had digivolved and followed us through the city on rooftops, beating us to his apartment the first time.

"Note to self: Double check that Kari has everything before we leave for anywhere." He grunted as he fell back into his computer chair.

"What was that?" I said, daring him to say it again.

"Nothing, dear." He said with a sigh. "I'll be right back." He got up and went to the bathroom.

"Max always does stuff like that to me as well." Renamon said from the back of the room. "He'll be back to normal soon. He's just a bit stressed out from you getting hurt."

I nodded. "I know. He's so temperamental. It's part of why I like him." I smiled.

Max came back into the room and walked over to his computer. "Let's get this show on the road. I messaged Willis while I was in there, and he said he's been there for two hours." He fiddled with the computer for a moment before turning to me. "I don't know how to work the program to get into the digital world. Kari, can you open a digi-port?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course. _Digi-Port Open!_" I said, light streaming from the screen. Within moments I felt the familiar freefall and wind rushing through my hair.

_This feels good,_ I thought as I fell.


	6. Chapter 6

**Max**  
We landed in the digital world, Renamon and I on our feet and Kari sprawled out on the ground. Before I could help her up, she had already hoisted herself to her feet.

"I could have helped you, you know." I said, rolling my eyes.

She dusted herself off. "I'm fine. Stop worrying about me."

I rolled my eyes again and pulled out my D-Terminal. "Willis said he's heading this way. They met TK and will be here soon."

Kari stiffened at the mention of TK. I made a mental note to ask her about it later.

I stretched. "I hope tonight isn't too rough. I'm still exhausted from yesterday."

Renamon turned towards me. "You realized all you did was sprint a little bit, right? I did all the work."

"Hey!" I said in indignation. "I went through extreme mental stress."

Both of them rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, right." Kari giggled. "So, we're supposed to wait here?"

"Yes, ma'am. Willis specifically said to stay at the portal." I walked over to a tree and relaxed against it. "So, what's with you and TK? You seem to get nervous every time I've mentioned him."

She flopped her mouth like a fish. She stuttered for a moment before finally saying, "He had a problem and hurt those closest to him because of it. Especially me." She trailed off.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

She refused to look me in the eye. "I don't want to talk about it right now. I'll tell you later."

I let it go. If she didn't want to talk about it that badly, it must have been pretty serious. I looked at my D-Terminal, desperate for something to break the awkward silence that had started to develop. A minute later, I another message from Willis. "_We need help,_" was all it said.

At the same time, I heard Kari's D-Terminal go off. She read the message and looked up at me, panic in her eyes.

"TK just sent out a distress signal addressed to all of the original digidestined." She looked down.

I nodded. "Willis sent out one to the tech team as well. Whatever's going on must be pretty bad, if they're calling everyone for help." I closed my D-Terminal and shoved it in my pocket. "Which way do we go?" I asked her.

She pulled out her digivice. "It says that they're that way." She pointed to my right. "They're pretty far away. We'd better get going."

I looked over at her. "Okay, but we'll never make it in time to help if we have to walk at your pace." Before she could answer, I picked her up and started walking at a quick pace.

"Max, put me down!" She yelled. "I'll be fine!"

I looked in her eyes. "Yes, you will, but Willis and TK won't be."

She stopped squirming, sighing in defeat. "You're right. Just go."

Renamon grabbed her from me and started running. "Just try to keep up with me, Max. We'll get there faster this way."

I nodded and started sprinting behind her, barely even managing to keep her in sight. She would slow when I got too far behind. Eventually, we came to a rock wall with a small opening to a cave.

"Does it say they're inside?" I asked.

"Yeah, it does." She leaned down to look inside. "I don't see anything though." She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Willis? TK? Are you in there?"

After a few seconds, Terriermon came into view. "We're in here, now stop yelling. Come on, the others are back a bit."

We crawled in the cave, only traveling a small distance before coming to Willis. They had a small fire built.

He looked surprised to see us. "Oh. Hi, you two." He looked at Terriermon. "I thought you said there wasn't another exit to this cave."

"Sorry, Willis. It didn't sound like there was." He said.

Willis looked at the fire. "That's good news." He looked at us. "The other entrance caved in. Lopmon, Terriermon, Gatomon and I were on the inside and TK and Patamon were outside." He shook his head. "I wonder what happened to them."

Kari perked up. "Where's Gatomon?"

Willis pointed down another tunnel. "She said she heard water that way so she went to see if there were fish."

Kari smiled. "That's Gatomon, always thinking with her stomach."

"Hey, I resemble that statement!" Gatomon's voice came from the darkness. She ran and leapt into Kari's arms, snuggling against her.

I looked around. "So why are we just sitting here? Shouldn't we be going to help TK?" I said.

Willis looked up and I saw his face light up. "We can now. Aranimon could blow open the entrance and we could look for a trail."

I looked at Renamon, and she nodded.

"Well, let's get to it then." I smirked.

* * *

The rocks exploded outwards, and the outside was easily visible. "Good job, Aranimon. Better save your strength." She nodded and de-digivolved. We started to climb out, but Kari stopped half way.

"I see TK's digivice!" She shouted, reaching into the rocks. She pulled her arm out, holding a green D-3. "I wonder if his D-Terminal is here too." She started shifting rock, looking for the electronic in question. Less than a minute later, she announced that she could see it and dug it out.

Willis had a weird look on his face. "Why would he have left them?"

I shrugged. "Maybe he thought he was going to be captured and didn't want the Emperor having them? Or maybe he dropped them trying to get away from the cave-in?"

Willis was silent. Kari spoke up. "You're probably right." Willis paced around the exit for a minute before stopping.

"I see a trail, I think. Follow me." Willis said before sprinting off, the twins on his shoulder.

"Willis, wait!" He stopped just before he got out of sight. "Kari has a broken ankle. Let Gatomon digivolve so she can keep up."

Willis visibly sighed, staying where he was. "Make it quick."

"Digi-Armour Energise!" Kari yelled.

**"Gatomon armour-digivolve to..."**

She glowed pink, turning from cat to sphinx. I had to keep from laughing, because for some reason, it amused me way more than it should have.

**"Nefertimon! The Angel of Light!"** Kari climbed on top of her, and Nefertimon flew up above the tree line.

"Let's go." Willis said before running off again.

_Oh, great. More running,_ I thought as I tried to keep up with Willis, Nefertimon and Renamon.

* * *

We came to a clearing. The trail we had been following ended right in the center of the clearing.

"Okay, what do we do now?" I asked.

Willis turned to Kari and Nefertimon. "Go check the area out from the sky. We may be able to find the trail again." He turned to Renamon and I. "Renamon, do a quick perimeter, please." He sighed. "If that doesn't work, we'll just have to wait until TK can somehow communicate with us again." The two digimon and Kari went off to do as Willis asked.

"Willis, do you feel that?" I asked. I could feel the same energy that we had felt last time.

He looked over at me. "Yeah, I can."

"We need to get away from the Spire. That energy field drains non-dark digimon."

"Well, let's fall back when they return. For now, look for signs of TK."

"Okay..."

I walked around the clearing, looking for clues. I went to the far end of the clearing and saw a patch of orange. I got a bit closer to see that it was Patamon's unconscious form.

"Willis, look!" I yelled. I knelt down beside him, gently shaking him to wake him. His eyes fluttered as Willis got closer.

Right when Willis reached us, Patamon's eyes snapped open. They shined a brilliant red, and he immediately launched himself into the air, sending a ball of air at Willis's chest.

Terriermon ran up and took the hit, flying back and sending himself and Willis to the ground. Lopmon leapt and grabbed Patamon, attempting to drag him down.

"I've heard of hot air, but that was ridiculous..." Terriermon grunted from the ground.

"Stop being funny, Terriermon. This is serious." Lopmon remarked, hanging onto Patamon with all of his strength.

"Don't you mean stop being punny?" Terriermon giggled as he pulled himself back up.

Willis groaned. "Seriously, stop."

Terriermon jumped up. "Okay, geeze. You don't have to be so sour." He jumped to help Lopmon, who was barely keeping a hold of Patamon.

"Where are Renamon, Kari and Nefertimon?" I asked Willis as the three rookies duked it out.

"Off doing what I asked them to. They'll be back soon enough." He said quietly as Patamon threw Lopmon across the clearing.

"For a puffball, he's pretty strong." Terriermon remarked. "_Bunny Blast!_" He hit Patamon with a ball of green energy, sending him over to Lopmon.

"_Tiny Twister!_" Lopmon yelled, catching Patamon in a small brown tornado.

Willis frowned. "Be careful, you two. Don't hurt him." He dodged as Patamon came flying at him out of the tornado. "Or us, for that matter."

"We can try, Willis, but I don't know how gentle we can be with him." Lopmon commented. "He's not exactly a happy digimon right now."

Patamon landed on the ground, obviously spent. He lifted himself to a standing position and started screaming. It looked and sounded like he was in intense pain.

A bright light shined from him before it turned black.

"He's dark-digivolving!" Willis yelled. The twins got to his side, ready to protect him.

Patamon shaped into a humanoid with ripped black clothing all over him and horns that almost looked like a viking helmet.

"What is that thing?" I said to no one in particular. It laughed and grabbed for Lopmon and Terriermon.

Willis gasped as Patamon successfully got a hold of Terriermon. Lopmon managed to dodge, and started glowing black light.

**"Lopmon dark-digivolve to..."**

Willis reached out, as if trying to stop him. I put my hand on his shoulder. "He's our only hope right now. Let him do his thing." I said quietly. Willis looked at me and nodded.

**"Wendigomon!"** He leapt into action, smacking Terriermon out of the demon's hands.

The Emperor's voice rang out. "Devimon can't be beaten by anything except the Angemon family of digimon. Too bad that the only one capable of digivolving to those is the one you need them to defeat." I looked around for him, not able to locate him. However, I did see Renamon emerging from the trees.

"Renamon! We need you!" I yelled, already hauling out the digi-egg. "Digi-Armour Energise!"

Purple light started to envelope her.

**"Renamon armour-digivolve to..."**

I saw her head come down and a smirk appear on her face.

**"Aranimon! The Charitable Hero!"**

She shot a Smash at Devimon, knocking him off balance enough for Wendigomon to take a pot shot at him. While he was stunned from that, he was smashed in the back by a large stone. Immediately after, Kari flew over on Nefertimon.

"Nice one!" I yelled up. She circled around and let Kari off before hitting Devimon with another stone.

The three digimon kept pummeling Devimon, and he started to weaken. Wendigomon knocked him down, and he had a look of panic on his face.  
He started to glow again, purplish-black light swallowing him. The Emperor's voice rang out again, still disembodied.

"Maybe you just proved me wrong. Don't worry. What's coming up will erase that little mistake I just made." He chuckled.

Willis looked around. "That guy is creeping me out."

I nodded. "No kidding."

The light dissipated, and the demon had become much more menacing. It now had a hard red and black exoskeleton, armour, and a gigantic staff.

"That looks like fun." I muttered.

Kari's eyes were wide. "We can't fight an ultimate."

"Says who?" Willis remarked.

"I do. We have a champion and two armours. That is not enough to take on an ultimate head on." She sighed. "That being said, I don't know how we can get out of here."

The digimon swung his staff, narrowly missing Aranimon.

"Nefertimon, get Kari and get out of here!" I yelled. Her foot would get her killed if it came down to escaping.

She looked over at me with a hard look on her face. "I'm not leaving."

Aranimon and Nefertimon attacked simultaneously, but didn't even leave a mark. The demon digimon swung his staff and connected this time with Nefertimon, who hit the ground hard.

"Nefertimon!" Kari cried, rushing over to her as she dedigivolved to Gatomon. The cat got up and leaped at Kari, pushing her out of the way of another swing before leaping into action.

"_Lightning Paw!_" she yelled, punching the demon in the face. It did nothing.

"Hahahah. You can't do anything against SkullSatamon. You're too weak from the influence of my Spire. Enjoy the last few minutes of your lives."

Aranimon sent a Smash at his face, but it did nothing. The staff came down upon her, reverting her to Renamon.

Wendigomon pushed him back with his Club Arm attack and followed with a Koko Crusher, but he couldn't dent the exoskeleton.

Renamon and Gatomon combo attacked from the air, but Diamond Storm just bounced off and Lightning Paw just made a hollow thud.

"Well. This is going _swell_." I said, gritting my teeth.

SkullSatamon swung his staff one last time, hitting all three digimon.

"This is a fine mess." Willis commented. "What do we do now?"

SkullSatamon floated above us, Renamon and Gatomon both unconscious on the ground at our feet. Wendigomon started to get up, grunting in pain. Kari and I grabbed our partners, attempting to carry them away.

"Wendigomon, that's enough!" Willis yelled. "You shouldn't be fighting in the first place!"

Wendigomon turned around. "I'm tired of you letting Terriermon do whatever he wants and then treating me like I'm made of glass. I'm just as capable as he is!" he roared, "You've been unfair and you know it!" He started hobbling out to fight again. He didn't even manage to get an attack in before SkullSatamon hit him and sent him flying. We watched as Wendigomon was thrown all around the clearing, getting hit every time he could stand up.

As we watched, Willis fell to his knees. "He's right." he said in a small voice. He then raised his voice, talking to Wendigomon. "I'm sorry. I know I've not been fair. I just worry so much about you all the time." I could see tears forming in his eyes. "I promise I'll be fair from now on. Now go get him!"

A brilliant green light shined from under Willis's shirt, and his digivice lit up brightly as well.

"Willis..." Wendigomon muttered as he started to glow.

**"Wendigomon digivolve to..."**

He never got the chance to finish. "_Skull HAMMER!_" SkullSatamon screamed, bringing down the end of his staff on Wendigomon's head. Willis's digivice immediately shut off, and Wendigomon instead dedigivolved all the way to Kokomon.

I felt my eyes widen and I looked over at Kari, who had a look of shock on her face. "We are so screwed. That was our last chance." I said to no one in particular. I looked around wildly, attempting to come up with an escape route while SkullSatamon floated towards.

"Don't be so negative, Max. We might have a chance." Kari said, her voice cracking.

"Stop kidding yourself, Kari. Max is right." Willis said from my left.

I closed my eyes. "On the count of three, grab your partner and run." I sighed. "It won't help us win, but it will help us survive."

Kari scoffed. "Run? Have you forgotten something? Like the fact that my ankle is broken?"

"What other choice do we have, Kari?" She remained silent. "Listen, you two run away. I'll give you time to escape."

"What would that achieve, idiot?" Willis snapped. "You being dead won't make this situation any better. If you're going to try planning something, be freaking realistic."

"If I could digivolve, we'd be in business." Terriermon said from Willis's head.

"Yeah? Well, you can't." Willis said harshly.

I looked over and Terriermon shrank into himself. "Geeze, Willis. Do you have to be so mean?" He muttered.

I saw Willis's intense look falter for a moment, but it immediately returned.

"So, Willis. What's your brilliant plan? Yell at Terriermon till he can magically digivolve and save us?" I shot.

Willis looked at me with that angry look of his. "Screw you, man."

SkullSatamon closed in and prepared to take a swing at us before a gigantic ball of orange fire hit him, sending him to the ground. I looked up to see WarGreymon, one of the digimon I had watched years before.

"Well, guys. Looks like we made it just in time." I spun and saw a group of six people and four small digimon. Ken and Yolei were there, I recognised three of them from watching their digimon fight on the computer, and I recognised the girl with red hair from pictures in Kari's apartment. "I didn't know your sister was here as well," said the one with shoulder length blonde hair.

"Holy, crap. Ken, Yolei, am I glad to see you two." I said, running over to them.

The one with reddish hair looked at me funny. "Who is this guy?" He asked _very_ loudly in Japanese.

I turned to him. "Hi, I'm Max. Nice to meet you." I held out my hand. He looked at me funny. I tried again in Japanese, getting a response this time. He nodded and simply said, "I'm Davis," in Japanese, brushing me off and running over to Kari, who did not look pleased by his appearance at all.

The one with big hair walked over to me. "Sorry about Davis. He didn't bother taking English in high school and refuses to learn now." He held out his hand. "I'm Tai. Kari is my little sister." He nodded to his friends. "The blonde is Matt and the redhead is Sora."

"Nice to meet you all," I said, trying to make a good first impression.

Kari limped over to us. "What took you so long? TK messaged you over two hours ago." She had a slight frown on her face.

"Izzy's confusing program wouldn't work. After messing with it for around fourty-five minutes, we just decided to go across town and have Ken let us in. Davis and Yolei were there and the three of them decided to come with us, but Davis and DemiVeemon wouldn't leave until after they had finished eating." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter how useful a program is if you can't figure it out without a computer science degree."

Kari looked at Davis. "I didn't know you had DemiVeemon in the real world."

Before he could answer her, there was a crash behind us. SkullSatamon attempted to smash WarGreymon with his staff, but WarGreymon grabbed it and pulled it from SkullSatamon's grasp, throwing across the now-widened clearing.

Tai turned to the group. "Yolei, Davis, go smash that tower. WarGreymon can handle this guy."

Yolei gave a thumbs up. "On it, boss!" The two held their digivices up in the air, shouting, "Digi-Armour Energise!"

**"Hawkmon armour-digivolve to..."**  
**"Veemon armour-digivolve to..."**

The two glowed pink and blue respectively, their armour forms appearing.

**"Halsemon! The Wings of Love!"**  
**"Raidramon! The Storm of Friendship!"**

The two shot off in the direction of the tower with their partners on their backs.

"Well, when that tower goes down, we'll be in business." The girl with red hair said. "We'll have Paildramon, WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, Garudamon, Silphymon and these two's digimon after they get back. He'll be no match for the nine of us."

Willis looked at them. "It's not that simple. That's not just a bad digimon. That's Patamon." He shook his head. "WarGreymon is plenty right now."

The blonde kid shot forward. "What do you mean? How is that Patamon?" He demanded.

"The Emperor captured TK about two hours ago. He somehow took control of Patamon and digivolved him into Devimon. When we tried fighting back, he digivolved again. He then proceeded to trash us." Willis explained. "We can't figure out how he's controlling him, or we'd have tried breaking it."

"We need to figure it out. Quickly if possible. I don't know how long they'll be able to stay in natural digivolutions in the energy field that the Spire is putting out." I looked at the ground. "That field drains regular digimon's energy until they're about to pass out, basically giving the Emperor's lackeys a punching bag. Wendigomon isn't affected by it, but Kokomon is out for the count and can't dark-digivolve."

Tai and Matt looked at each other and started discussing what could be controlling him with Willis, while the redhead and Kari were talking about what they've been doing in the real world. Renamon started to stir and then began watching us with barely opened eyes.

Ken stepped over to me. "What were you talking about? The Spires don't put out any kind of energy fields."

"Can't you feel it?" I said quietly.

"Yes, I can." He sighed. "My control spires never did that, though. Whoever this is must be modifying my old technology."

I looked back at the fight, where WarGreymon was just playing with SkullSatamon. He was easily dodging the evil digimon's attacks and keeping him from getting to his staff. When the two digimon parted for a moment, I saw the Emperor across the clearing, holding what looked like a digivice. He did a flourish with it, and suddenly SkullSatamon was able to outmaneuver WarGreymon, getting to his staff. The Emperor did it again, and SkullSatamon swung his staff, sending WarGreymon across the clearing.

The conversations stopped, the redhead and Kari gasping.

WarGreymon dragged himself to his feet. "He got stronger all of a sudden. I need help."

"That's why I'm here," said a gigantic armoured wolf as it emerged from the trees. MetalGarurumon shot past us and tackled SkullSatamon to the ground.

I saw the Emperor across the clearing one last time. This time, I could see the smirk on his face. He just continued watching as the megas fought the overly-powerful ultimate.

_What the hell is he up to?_

* * *

**A/N: Yeah... it's been a while. This chapter just wouldn't turn out the way I wanted it to till now. That plus the busyness of college and such has kept my from updating.  
The next chapter shouldn't be a month away. I think I've gotten my groove back.**

**R&R my friends. **


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